Background and career
Maria da Graça Xuxa Meneghel ( SHOO-shə, Brazilian Portuguese: [maˈɾi.ɐ da ˈɡɾasɐ ˈʃuʃɐ mẽneˈɡɛw]; born Maria da Graça Meneghel on 27 March 1963) is a Brazilian TV host, actress, singer, and businesswoman. Nicknamed "The Queen of Children", Xuxa built the largest Latin and South American children's entertainment empire. In the early 1990s, she presented television programs in Brazil, Argentina, Spain and the United States simultaneously, reaching around 20 million viewers daily. According to different sources, the singer's sales range between 30 and 50 million copies. In 2025, the record label Som Livre, with which the artist recorded almost all of her albums, gave her an award for her more than 28 million copies sold only in Brazil, during her career, and 10 billion streams to date. Her net worth was estimated at US$100 million in the early 1990s. Also successful as a businesswoman, she has the highest net worth of any Brazilian female entertainer, estimated at US$400 million.
Maria da Graça Meneghel was born in Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul, to Alda (née Flores da Rocha) and Luís Floriano Meneghel. Xuxa is of Italian and Polish descent on her paternal side and of German, Swiss and Portuguese descent on her maternal side. Her paternal great-grandfather emigrated to Brazil from the northern Italian town of Imer, in the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, around the end of the 19th century. In 2013, Xuxa obtained Italian citizenship by jus sanguinis. During Xuxa's birth, her father was told that both mother and child were at risk. He opted to save his wife, and prayed to Our Lady of Graces, promising to name his daughter after the Blessed Virgin Mary if all went well. Although she was named for the Virgin as promised, Xuxa, the youngest member of the Meneghel family, received her famous nickname from her brother, Bladimir. When their mother arrived home with the baby, she said to him, "Look at the baby that I bought to play with you", and he replied, "I know, it's my Xuxa." The nickname stuck, though it was not until 1988 that she officially changed her name to Maria da Graça Xuxa Meneghel. Xuxa spent her early years in her hometown of Santa Rosa. When she was seven, she and her family moved to Rio de Janeiro where they lived in the Bento Ribeiro neighborhood. At 15 years old, she was discovered by a modeling agency, and began her professional career as a model at 16. During this time period Xuxa modeled in Brazil and the United States for both fashion and men's magazines, such as Playboy, and began an affair with Brazilian retired footballer Pelé. In 1984, she was hired as a model by Ford Models.
Xuxa started a career in television through an offer to host a children's program, Clube da Criança, in the newly created Rede Manchete which was the sixth broadcaster to have national reach in Brazil. In this period, she worked as a model during the week in New York City and taped her show during the weekends in Rio de Janeiro. The program's reach gradually increased and she began to receive proposals from other broadcasters, until in 1986, she ended up accepting one made by Rede Globo de Televisão to present a new children's program that would bear her name.
On 30 June 1986, Xou da Xuxa debuted on TV Globo. It aired in the mornings from Monday to Saturday until its final episode on 31 December 1992, after some 2,000 episodes. Xuxa would usually enter on a pink ship, which awakened in the children the dream of flying beside her. Children from all over Brazil ran to have breakfast with the song "Quem Qué Pão?" She would end the show with the famous "Xuxa kiss", where she would put on bright lipstick and kiss the children onstage with her and children in the audience on the cheek, leaving a mark. In addition to entertainment, she also aired positive messages to the public, such as "Want, Power and Reach!", "Believe in Dreams" and "Drugs do Bad". In Christmas 1986, Xuxa received her eighth platinum record, a prize awarded to every 250,000 copies sold. The album Xou da Xuxa, from the record company Som Livre, had sold more than 2.6 million copies, achieving by then the South American record for a single album. Xuxa sold more than Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos that year. In the following years, the presenter still released six more albums of the series, such as Xou da Xuxa 2 and 3, which established themselves as the best-selling albums in Brazil, with 3.2 and 5 million copies sold, respectively, the latter being the best-selling album in Brazil. With the recorded songs, it left in tours by Brazil that were seen by millions of people. In 1987, the French newspaper Libération included Xuxa in the list of 10 women of prominence on the planet, next to the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. In the same period, Xuxa began a relationship with the Brazilian Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, who died in 1994. In parallel to the Xou da Xuxa, the presenter commanded Bobeou Dançou, between 9 July and 31 December 1989, on Sunday afternoons of TV Globo. Initially created as Xou of Xuxa frame, it was so successful that the station decided to launch it as an independent program aimed at the adolescent public. The Bobeou Dançou was a program of rumba based on riddles with two teams formed by adolescents between 13 and 17 years disputed the first place of the competition. In 1990, the film Lua de Cristal, Xuxa's biggest box office hit, sold 4,178 million tickets and ranked 21st in the ranking of most-watched national films from 1970 to 2011 according to Ancine (Agência Nacional do Cinema). Xuxa accumulated the highest-grossing of Brazilian cinema, with more than 37 million people watched her films. She was also chosen by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences of the United States to deliver the International Emmy Awards in the category of best children's program and present one of their songs in the awards party. In 1991, Xuxa appeared in 37th place for Forbes among the 40 richest celebrities of that year, with a turnover of $19 million. Xuxa was the first Brazilian to join the list. The Paradão da Xuxa emerged as an independent program after the success of the picture of the same name presented in Xou of Xuxa. The program was aired between 25 April and 26 December 1992 on Saturday mornings of TV Globo, replacing Xou of Xuxa on that day. The program was three hours long, and different singers and musical groups performed on the show. The musical selection went from the samba to the rock, going through the sertanejo music. On the last Saturday of each month, Super Paradão (Vacation Specials) was shown, highlighting the most successful songs of the period.
After reaching success with her record sales in her home country, her popularity surpassed the Brazilian market and released her first Spanish-language album, Xuxa 1, which performed well in the Argentine market. Xuxa widened her appeal among Spanish-speaking audiences when she recorded an adapted version for Spanish-speaking markets of Xou da Xuxa, called El Show de Xuxa. The Los Angeles Times reported in 1992 that "more than 20 million Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking children watched El Show de Xuxa in 16 countries of Latin America every day, as well as Univision in the United States. The first two seasons of the show, were produced by main Argentine TV channel Telefé while the third season, held in 1993, was produced independently in Buenos Aires and was sold to El Trece. Her last Spanish speaking show aired in Latin America on 31 December 1993. The New York Times highlighted her success in Brazil and Argentina in an article by correspondent James Brooke. It also highlighted the record sales of albums of the singer, which in 1990 reached 12 million copies, and its success in the Hispanic market, where it reached 300,000 copies with their first album in Spanish. At the time, she was called by New York magazine as "Latin American Madonna". In 1992, the Los Angeles Times said that Xuxa was "probably better known to most Latin American pre-adolescents than Michael Jackson." In 1992, taping programs in Brazil and Argentina, Xuxa was invited to host the program Xuxa Park in Spain. Released by Telecinco channel, the game show was shown on Sundays, with high ratings, and lasted two years. Her Xuxa Park album sold well for 8 weeks and was certified gold. Billboard magazine published in September 1992, that the album Xuxa 2 was at the top of the Spanish charts, and appeared in position 77 of the 100 most sold albums in the world. The biggest hits on this disc were: Loquita Por Ti (#29 on the billboard chart), Luna de Cristal (#35 on the billboard chart) and Chindolele (#10 on the billboard chart). The album reached the fifth position in the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Albums of 1991. In 1992, People magazine chose Xuxa as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1993, Xuxa hosted an English-language series in the United States titled Xuxa (which was produced by MTM Enterprises). Broadcast by a pool of 100 stations and with an average of 3 million viewers per episode, significant numbers, Xuxa lasted only one season on The Family Channel (renamed Freeform in 2018), remaining on the air between 1993 and 1996, including reruns. It was initially broadcast by 124 stations across the country. The shows were produced on Sound Stage 36 at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. Sixty-five episodes were taped for the first season of the show. Taping of the episodes was done in a 5-week period in the summer of 1993. The shows were broadcast Monday through Friday, generally in the early morning or mid-afternoon. All 65 episodes were broadcast during the initial 13 weeks before there was a repeat. Helping Xuxa on the show were the Pixies (three U.S. "Paquitas" plus one Brazilian Paquita), the Mellizas (uncredited), Jelly, Jam, and ten "child wranglers" for 150 kids on the set. Starting in September 1994, Xuxa began airing on The Family Channel cable network, at 8:00 am ET/PT. They reprised original episodes on a new children's block until 19 February 1996 when Xuxa stopped airing on The Family Channel. The show was sold to other countries including Japan, Israel, Russia, Australia, Romania and some Arab states. Her international ambitions apparently ended after the grueling taping schedule for her American show. She was hospitalized for several days due to exhaustion, and decided to give up her international career. In the U.S., Sony Wonder released two of her videos and a record that includes English translations of some of her most successful songs in Portuguese and Spanish.
After some serious health problems due to an overload of work, Xuxa decided to return to work exclusively in the Brazilian market. The presenter returned to her children's audience with Xuxa Park, the Brazilian version of a project of the same name that commanded in Spain. Some elements of the Xou da Xuxa remained, others were modified or completely removed, but still present. The program also directed by Marlene Mattos and gathered games, specials and musical attractions was exhibited between 4 June 1994 and 6 January 2001 on Saturday mornings of TV Globo. The show was canceled abruptly due to a fire that occurred on 11 January 2001 in the recording of its carnival special. In parallel to Xuxa Park, Xuxa hosted Xuxa Hits between 8 January and 16 April 1995 on Sunday afternoons on TV Globo. The program came as a picture of Xuxa Park, but became an independent program due to its great success. In attraction, Xuxa received several musical attractions like bands, DJs and singers. After its end, the program returned to be only a painting of the Xuxa Park. Inspired by Xuxa Hits, the Planeta Xuxa was created, and premiered on 5 April 1997. Initially, Planeta Xuxa was shown on TV Globo's Saturday afternoons, so Xuxa presented two shows simultaneously on the same day, as Xuxa Park occupied the broadcasters' mornings. From 19 April 1998, the program began to be presented on Sunday afternoons due to the 1998 World Cup, remaining on Sundays until its end in 2002. Planeta Xuxa was focused on the performances of musicians and bands. The program had the format of a discoteque, had the participation of the public and received famous guests. The attraction came to an end on 28 July 2002, due to Xuxa's desire to return to children's television and the end of the partnership with director Marlene Mattos.
